| 1933 Maybelline Ad. |
Maybelline founder, (1915,) Tom Lyle Williams, believed a
woman’s greatest asset was her ability to capture a man’s imagination through her expressive eyes.
By the 1920's women were expressing their creativity through fashion, music, dance, modern art and writing. The film
industry was exploding with glamour and Super Stars.
Maybelline, contracted Hollywood Movie Queens to endorse
their products in full page ads in Glossy magazines. Modern
Women wanted to know what was happening in the glamour
Women wanted to know what was happening in the glamour
industry..... fashion and beauty and Photography was the
ticket for showing off beautiful eyes. And, photography meant makeup! Tom Lyle Williams, used photography mixed with art
to create the stunning Art Deco Ads in the early 1930's.
Magazines were a powerful tool in women's lives. By
1929, Tom Lyle Williams had spent a million dollars on
advertising, but That was just the tip of the iceberg. He'd
soon be spending that much a year, keeping Maybelline
number one in the Country.
The Great Depression, made Maybelline a household word.
Women wanted beauty and glamour and Maybelline gave
them sex appeal socially while exuding confidence in the
workplace. For first time since the Victorian era, Movie Stars
like Jean Harlow, or Joan Crawford, exuded sex on the screen
and young woman embraced it.
Maybelline provided an inexpensive eye beautifier that
mirrored the glamour of a woman's favorite Glamour Queen,
and old world standards melted away. With America's
changing values, Tom Lyle Williams placed his mascara in
dime stores for the first time and Maybelline became the undisputed giant in its field
Read more about Tom Lyle Williams and his Maybelline company, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it.
